Sunday, January 18, 2009

It is functional enough:hides what must be hidden,enables me to blend into streets and supermarket aisles.Still I know -perhaps others can tell-it is not mine.

It hangs baggily in some places,affords no movement in others;is patched mismatching colours -legacyof countless past wearers.It has been taken in,taken out, torn and soiled,sewn up and let down.No matter how much I wash itthe fabric is flavoured with moments that are not mine:spilled drinks and cigarettes,perfume and sweat,a million mixed meanings,minefields for misinterpretation.

Still I walk around, wrapped in this language:foreign as it is, I know no other.

Secretly, though, I pick at its frays,trying to imagine what could beif this language and I were to unravelinto nakedness,into silence.Without words there are no rule books,without words there are no lies.

About Me

I'm Ashley Capes and 'kipple' is something I look after while co-editing online mag 'holland1945' (www.holland1945.net.au) and help out with Issa's Snail, a renku group. (http://issassnail.wordpress.com) I have also been an editor of print mag Egg(Poetry) and sing in a band. My first collection of poetry 'pollen and the storm' (2008) was published with the assistance of Small Change Press. In 2009 my second collection is due to be published by Interactive Press. (http://ashleycapes.wordpress.com)